Wow - last day of February. I have 10 days to tat my daughter's elephant. In slick bright rayon floss!

I've been playing - creating pretty little butterflies that I'll have to post some other time.

I was going to bid on two shuttles last night late and got sidetracked. :-) I really liked them too. Oh well. There will be others.

Well, the butterfly I tatted last night was done in two different threads that were both size 50. However, one was Oren Bayan and one was Altin Basak. The Altin Basak thread was much thinner than the Oren Bayan.................which is what pisses me off about so-called standard sizes! I wonder sometimes if that is why one tatter's motif is so different from another's? It's not just the tension, but the thread. I find most tatters who say they tat tightly don't tat as tightly as they think. If it were that tight - their work would pull - you can only tat so tight before it becomes distorted. Some people snug their stitches up closer than others. I do even in the same project.

I can't edit my broken graphic. I've asked why the graphics show up broken, but still no answer. :-( Oh..........I bet I have to go to the website! LOL!

For anyone wanting online support aaaannd chuckles.........join Georgia's online class. They are held Sunday night and Monday night - let Georgia know which one you want and she'll instruct you how to get there. Last night's class, which I missed, was to include a discussion centered around Bina's Morphing Motif. Morphing Motif is my name for it, btw, not her's. Look closely and you will see all sorts of different possibilities as you move around the center. This is designing! This is how you explore the potential of an idea! I know if you really look at it, you'll start thinking of ways to change something you have already made. Keep thinking, keep changing bits and pieces til you get it just the way you want it. Ta-da! A new design!

I was hoping to get to play for a bit but tatting required for my granddaughter and daughter's birthdays will put me to task! I will be glad when we get to April and I will be done with ALL my committments. Even my math class will be nearly over. The Paisley Heart is done but you'll have to go to Ofoto to see it because I haven't been able to get a photo on here yet. Maybe next month - I think I figured it out. (10/10/08 photos no longer exist online)

Taking a break from tatting, which I'll get into shortly. Earlier this evening I headed to my daughter's to help celebrate a grandson's birthday - age 9 instead of 10 - I could have sworn he was going to be 10! But Katie will turn 10 next week so there is a 10 year old somewhere! The rain had turned to snow early on but the temperatures were still hovering right around freezing so it was mostly slush on the roads, but slick too. I stayed for a little over an hour, not wanting to push my luck too much with the weather. My son went on to friends but said he's probably coming home, even though I hinted he should stay in town. Don't know why a 21-year-old wants to come home, but maybe he doesn't trust me being home alone. I might party and drink up all his booze!

I'm having a bit of angst from this tatted heart. I started the side part again, watching for the extra picot this time, and then forgot that one side of the split ring had 2 picots and the other side only had 1, so I had to retro-tat 2 rings and redo them. Everything went pretty well from then on and I just finished that half - only to realize there are 3 josephine knots on the top arch of each half and the photo and diagram only show 2 JK. Dammit!!! I go back and read the directions which say to repeat * to * twice more........which means a total of 3 times, but it's only supposed to be 2 JK total. So now I have to find a way to compensate for the added distance between two joining rings at the top. I think I'll just do 1 or 2 little split rings to bridge the gap, but it pisses me off because there is nothing else to do except start over. I think it will look alright, but I won't know until it is finished.......grump, grump......... It is very pretty so far though. Maybe I will learn something about photos by the time I get it done and be able to put it on here! LOL!

My grandson liked the ruler with the alligator and stuff. My son-in-law liked it even more! My daughter hinted he would like a tatted rosary after I made the ones for my godparents..........so I should keep that in mind for his birthday in October. I get picky about the beads for those.......and I would like a crisper thread than what I used before. I got some really nice thread on a vintage shuttle once - which I've not been able to find anywhere quite the same, regardless of how high quality the thread is.

I think I'm going to change the text color to black - I found out how to do it but it will wait until tomorrow.

sigh.....my sister canceled out of the birthday party due to the weather so I didn't get to give her the bookmark yet. I've also enclosed a paper with several tearooms in Indiana listed on it. We adore tea rooms. She gets to pick and I'll treat for the travel and tea.

Well, now to tackle the other side of the heart.

More playing! I wasn't fond of the brown...........nice reminder of chocolate, but otherwise depressing, so I went to a more comfortable color vibration. Changed the email tag. Will look for a better contrast on links. And maybe a more pleasant color for the header.

In the meantime, I started tatting a heart last night. The pattern is Bev Dillon's Paisley Heart from Georgia Seitz's Tatting with Friends. available here This heart is a little different as there is a center motif and then the 2 sides mirror each other and are done separately. LOTS of split rings in this one, if a person is interested in practicing split rings. I'm adding picots on the outside chains. I have ideas for threading flowers through some open places, but I don't know if that will work or not. I would love to add beads but it's going under glass so beads are out on this one. The frame doesn't have a hair of extra space! One thing about this pattern in the book.......go to the diagram on the next page. The directions are wrong, but I didn't realize that until I had tatted all the split rings for one side and was adding the chain part. Several of the rings need an additional set of picots and they are shown on the diagram but missing in the directions.

I used to hate visual diagrams but I'm finding them very helpful anymore. I still want the written part, whether it's the long version or short form, because it's easier to find my place and I'm the kind that needs a designated starting and ending point. A diagram without one is like thowing darts at a dartboard for me. Trust me........you'll want to protect yourself if you are in the vicinity.

I got the shuttles I won on Ebay a few days ago. I thought one was a Boye, but it isn't. Looks like it but no name on it whatsoever. The other one, the one I really wanted, is plain silver, but not shiny slick. I thought it might have a slight textured finish from the photo, but it doesn't - just more of a satin look than gloss - if there is such a thing in metal. There is a ton of thread on it so I can't tell yet if there are any markings on the inside to tell me more. I like it more for show than tatting. Wintertime heating dries my skin so bad that it doesn't take much to get a cut. Cardboard slices into me as easily as paper and this particular metal is so thin, I'm sure I'd slice something off! I'll save trying it for summer and humidity. I've also got a shuttle coming from The Shuttlemaker I liked the color on the one I'm ordering.

LOL! Here's what I should do...........scan my shuttles and set them up to trickle down the sides of this blog! Look fast before it's gone!!

I got Sharon Briggs' newsletter last week with her new patterns. I especially like the crocuses and the heart motif. The heart motif reminds me of a basket and I'm anxious to get to that one eventually. Maybe make a May Day heart basket filled with crocuses! If you are interested in Sharon's newsletter, go here. You can see the current projects and place a subscription. If you go elsewhere on Sharon's site, you will see that gorgeous butterfly she used for her bridal headpiece. Once upon a time I had hair down to "there" and would've loved to stick little butterflies and flowers like this in it......but time marches on and I'd rather place them on my coat or jacket these days!

That reminds me......in some roundabout way that makes no sense at all........of pocket peepers. I don't have an example to point you to, but they are hankies with a corner embellished that hangs out of a pocket, whether it be blazer hand pocket or chest pocket. A special bit of tatting or silk ribbon embroidery are nice on these. Hint::::: makes a lovely gift! I used to have a boss who wore "business suits" the majority of the time but she would add little feminine touches to soften the effect. I always meant to make her one of those but never got around to it.

Well, chores need to be done and a birthday party for a 10 year old this evening.

Butterflies 1
Butterflies are one of my favorite motifs to tat. I love the lacy delicate beauty of them. My 1st butterfly is in the bottom far left hand corner and then you go diagonally up to see what I have tatted for others. Go to the right across the row to see what was tatted for me. If you put your cursor over the butterfly, there is more information. IMO, Maus should be crowned Queen TattingGoddess for her tremendous efforts in organizing and documenting these round robins. (applause for Maus!)

One Shuttle Scalloped Edging Edging oooohhhh! Mark "Tatman" Myers has knocked up the creative juices again with this one shuttle edging! This is the same thread I used for my sister's bookmark - which is done, BTW, and on my photo site in a few minutes. Which you can't get to from here unless you join .....it's free and once you join you can go anytime and see anyone's photos if they give you their url. But they won't let you in without joining - I asked. Bitched about it too, but they didn't care. And later on, I'll post the link to my other 2 tatting albums there when I refer to something I made in the past.....so you might want to consider joining. I don't get any spam from them if that's encouraging. I think I have 9 albums there...........but they are family stuff too.

Ofoto Browse Photos If you join, this should be the 2003 album and there's not much in there yet......it's only February, for cryin' out loud! Tatting is slow business. But I'll also post the sites where the round robins are. Now there's a bunch of talented tatters! update 10/10/2008 - no longer exists

Sugar Skulls These colorful sugar skulls have absolutely nothing to do with tatting but they would look nice on a clear platter that was on top of a tatted lace doily. What a goofy day that would be - making and decorating sugar skulls!

Jane Eborall has done it again! Tatted Cats Maybe one of these will go in my granddaughter's ruler.

LOL! I still don't have my sister's bookmark done and tomorrow is the Birthday! One more heart and a tassle.

Cool! Another male tatter! This site also has tatting instructions to download and a little video clip. Canadian Living: In Tatters

I notice he has an Aero shuttle......another one I DON"T like. It seems you either love 'em or hate 'em. It also seems the gray Aero, the Silent Tatter, and the GR8 shuttles are some that people will hurt you bad over if you speak nasty about them. I don't like the Aero, don't have a Silent Tatter, and haven't gotten around to trying my GR8 (Sorry sis - after you went to the trouble of getting it for me :-( I can't quite make myself sit still long enough to fiddle with it).

Did you see those gloves though? I wish it was a close up - I'm so glad we don't wear gloves anymore for looks - I'd have to make some.......

I just learned how to link from a webpage so I have multiple entries..........still figuring it out!

Here's one example of the elephant I'm tatting for my daughter. Festival Elephant

Here is the heart pattern I'm using for my sister's bookmark. Betsy Evans is the designer. Rainbow Heart Bookmark

One of my favorite cyber haunts! eBay - The World's Online Marketplace

This page always makes me think of chocolate and every tatter knows tatting and chocolate go hand in hand. Well, not at the same time or you would have chocolate stained lace.

I finished the round of the motif on the elephant blanket. Lotsa beads and silky shiny thread! On to another color- a lovely teal -but first I have to finish my sister's bookmark. :-( I did start another heart last night and finished it today. I might get by with only 2 more hearts, but I have homework to do tonight. Maybe I can sneak the homework in this afternoon.

There is sand all over my office floor which means they didn't sweep it last night. It is tracked in with my boots, among others, from the surfaces being covered outside the doors - which helps us keep from falling on our keisters. Larry, the building deputy was so busy sweeping it out the door yesterday that he practically swept me out the door too. He is obsessed with it not getting inside the back dock area. I hurried away because he is one of those people who talks non-stopwithouttakingabreath once they nab you.

I've decided I could make a couple of versions of the elephant blanket before I actually tat the elephant onto it. That way I can see what I like best before it's all done. I hadn't planned on using the yellow floss, only the gold, but the purple and magenta did not look so appealing when I held them together so I decided to put it elsehwhere, so that meant I had to improvise. The beads looked perfect on it though.

Also saw another great catch of a shuttle on ebay. Not telling about it til it's over.

HA! I am so happy! I won a shuttle on ebay. Actually 2 shuttles, but one is that nasty metal boye shuttle that I hate. The other one though, is silver. Very smooth and sleek. I can't wait to get it in hand and feel the history of it's lacemaking days. There is a ton of thread around it - way more than I would ever put on a shuttle and I hope it's not sprung - but it didn't look like it. The seller called it a thread winder, both of them were thread winders. Which meant it didn't even get called tatting shuttle and I'm glad because I would never have won it because I'm sure it would have gone for way, way more. Also.......drum roll...........there was a wooden tube with 2 crochet hooks - one looks to be a shorter tatting join hook. And there is a little sewing kit and some old vintage hooks and eyes that I don't care about. Also a small pair of German scissors - now those might be pretty nifty too.

I hate to admit how many shuttles I have. One of my lists recently asked everyone to count up their shuttles and send the tally in - I didn't bother. I don't even know where they all are, for one thing. I do know I have over 50. Maybe I have 50 of the colored Clover shuttles alone. Those are my "utility" shuttles, the working ones. And I have some tortoise Clover shuttles and some amber Clover shuttles. Susan Bates shuttles and Boye shuttles and a Just-rite hinged shuttle. Shuttles painted by Ann Keller in Ireland for me. A red and a blue each plastic Clover shuttles sent to me from a friend in Australia. I haven't seen those around here. I have a couple of shuttles from Georgia Seitz. I have an abalone shell shuttle. I have one of the GR-8 shuttles by the Houtz Brothers. I have some by David Reed Smith - they were among the first shuttles I bought - I got them because he had smaller ones than the crappy metal Boye ones that slipped in my hands and poked me with that ghastly hook. Can you tell I hate Boye shuttles? I have those beautiful laser cut shuttles from The Shuttle Shop. I have a bone shuttle, plastic Boye shuttles in red, yellow, blue, green and pink, an angel decal shuttle, a hand carved shuttle by Connie Ten Clay, a long slender wooden shuttle from ebay, a netting shuttle, some black ones, some ivory ones, a pink one, some Victorian reproductions in brass, gold and silver, a tortoise one from St. Vincent DePaul's that I love dearly, a beading shuttle from Nina Libin, a shuttle I bought during The Feast of the Hunter's Moon, a silver plated brass engraved shuttle, and I know I'm missing some. I still want...........an ivory shuttle carved in a beautiful scene, a wooden shuttle with a carved design, a flat wooden shuttle like Beth Ann Heart makes, a shuttle from Rosita's - The Isle of Barbardos. Where does she get those gorgeous shuttles? I believe it will be easier for me to vacation there and find my own than to win a bid on ebay of one of her treasures! I also have 5 wooden blanks that I bought from Stuart Johnson in the UK to paint my own design on. Someday.

Now I'm starting to collect the tiny crochet hooks used for joining in tatting. Not the regular hooks - I have plenty of those as a long time crocheter. What is it that compels us to collect? I have my name engraved on some of the Shuttle Shop Shuttles. Oh - there is another shuttle I want - don't remember her name, but she makes shuttles in the shape of birds - chickadee, etc. Just remembered, I also have a double bobbin shuttle - but I don't like padded or rolled tatting so I may never use them. :-(

I realized today that my sister's birthday is Thursday and I did not tat more on her bookmark. I have to send it by Wednesday, which means I have to have it done by tomorrow night and blocked! Each heart takes about an hour. Damn! I got sidetracked on that elephant blanket - I'm on the second round of the motif now - just 2 more rings and I can go to the next color. I already have the beads strung on that color. I am so anxious to get it to a point that I can visualize how it will look!

Hmmmmmmmmmm.....looking at Carol Lawecki's finished elephant, I realize there is a head-dress I wasn't really aware of. Oops, change in plans. I'm also thinking I really hate that ear. I'm definitely going to have to redesign the ear. I want it to fold and drape like a real elephant's ear, not look like a patch stuck on as a last minute thought.

I've separated all my floss now and tatted a sample butterfly with beads to see how it would tat up. Two strands definitely. One strand tends to fray and will work out too small to make the impact I want from using this particular thread. If I didn't mention it before, this is for the elephant I'm tatting for my daughter for her birthday. It's a pattern by Pam Palmer. sigh..........I'm going to have to figure out how to do links and photos.

So last night I started on the blanket for the elephant. I think I know how I want the colors arranged, but it's kind of hard to get the same impact from colored pencils when you are using bright shiny thread. I've already changed the order of things. I may tat a couple of different versions since the elephant part is tatted last around the blanket. The blanket part is the crucial element. It's the color, the texture, the brightness, and focal point of the whole thing. There are a few motifs around the head too, that I'm not sure what I will do with them.

I'm going to switch gears today though and work on my roundrobins. I have a butterfly to do and a birthday one. I bought several little frames from Walmart recently that will work perfectly for framing small tatted motifs. They were only $1.50, but of course, the tatting is priceless (grin!). It's a glass piece with a backing that stands if you want, and the corners are held together by clips that are colored in pastels. I got pink, green, yellow, and blue so I have a good assortment. I think I have one lavendar one too. Since the birthday one is in February, I thought I would tat a heart and put it in the frame. I love Irene Woo's "Heart of the Butterfly" but I also love Mary Konior's "Heart's Desire". Perhaps I'll do that one and also tat a little flower motif to go in the empty space. I want to to the Celtic Heart too - I think by Martha Ess.......but that one will take some time, so not good for this project. It also needs to lie quite flat the way this frame is. I tried putting a fan in it and the lump where I made the tassel handle was a problem.

I finished the bonnet I was documenting for Georgia, but I'm going to have to remove a row from the back - so I've laid it aside for the time being.

Ulp! I'm tatting a lavendar heart bookmark for my sister's birthday which is the 20th of this month........maybe I'll work on that first! I have 2 hearts done and it will probably need 5 or 6. I'm using Handy Hands cordonnet, size 50. This is Betsy Evan's heart bookmark pattern. I just love it. Gave the 1st one I made to one of my closest friends, Janet.

Ha! Well, I tried separating rayon floss strands with the loopy side of a velcro strip. I knew with the first snarly that it would never work. I don't know where anyone came up with that grand idea. Maybe they had bigger loop velcro but I don't think it would make a lot of difference.

Well, pooh. It will take me hours to separate all that thread. But it will be soooooo pretttttty!

Tatting - that delicate wispy threading of air pockets that makes an enduring lace. It's become an obession with me - more than crocheting was, more than quilting, more than even painting - only because it was more portable.

I hope to do a little more with this site. I've not seen any other tatting blogs.........and the working process is as fun as the end result. There are wonderful tatters that I communicate with and share ideas and experiences. We talk designs - others and those coming into our heads. I want to show some of that process - share some of the tips, the pleasures and the frustrations.

Right now I'm tatting something for a grandson. It started out as an alligator to put in his birthday card and then my youngest son flatly said: "He'll lose it". Aaaaackkk - 2 or 3 hours down the drain.....maybe literally. Humph! Well, I have these see through acrylic rulers that I bought for the specific purpose of inserting my tatting and giving as gifts - mostly to the grandkids - but never got around to it in time for Christmas. So........the alligator is now in the ruler and I'm making a little patch of grass and reeds with 2 little ducks to go with it. Next is a little turtle..........and maybe a frog........and a fish... This is how little projects turn into big ones!

I'm also working on fans for my lace group's Lace Day coming up in April. I've got a couple done but there is one in particular I want to make in silk thread .............very pretty. I haven't started. Just picked up some silk thread last night. Hobby Lobby had silk floss on sale for $.88 and rayon embroidery thread for $.31/skein.

And here is my other big huge project. I want to tat Pam Palmer's elephant for my daughter who has a thing about elephants. I have no clue why, but she does. Her birthday is in March. I want to use the rayon thread because it is so bright and shiny....... and slick as SNOT as Hopie pointed out to me (like I didn't already know). But it will be soooooo pretty! This is like a circus elephant with the blanket and head dress. I'll add beads and gold and silver blending filament too! So.......separating embroidery floss is NOT fun. Hopie passed on a tip about using a piece of velcro, the loopy side, and running the strands through that to easily separate them. I'm going to try it. Will let you know what happens!

I've also got 3 thank you bookmarks to make and a birthday RR to tat for, my granddaughter's birthday in March too, besides her mother, and a couple of "thinking of you" somethings to tat. I also need to rework a section on a baby bonnet. More on that another day.

While I was looking for "boy" critter patterns to tat last night, I came across the reindeer ornament I had started to design before Christmas and got sidetracked. It will be the end of April or beginning of May before I get back to it. Maybe in time for the next Christmas.

Once I learn how to navigate this blog, I'll have links to the heart and butterfly I've designed so far. Well, actually, you can get to the butterfly here

I have a few angels too, but they aren't written up yet.